Apostasy

( Size: 42" x 27" Oils )

The painting represents the transition from a deep, habitual, religious belief to the opposite end of the spectrum: the abandonment of all faith, vows and principles.

Subjects in the painting:

The Apostate (left)

The apostate is wearing the attire of a lowly monk, kneeling humbly, carrying a receptacle which, symbolically, holds the apostates faith. He feels unworthy, his mind's perception of itself is too great, he feels inadequate because alone he can do very little to ease the decline that is luring him into the mode of abstinence of faith.

The apostates mind's eye has become the repository of all the ungodliness man has bestowed upon man through his beliefs.

Right Figure

The figure to the right with left hand held breast high represents the receiver and benefactor of the monks faith. A man without faith in the eyes of a believer conjures up the impression that once you're bereft of faith you automatically become vulnerable to the mercy of the dark forces and evil.

Centre Torso

The figure situated upper central, towering over a building, represents the Church, God, religion and fear.

Ghosts

The ghostly figures in the right background sky are there poised, ready to invade the empty space created by the parting of the faith.

There are three figures, three windows, three doorways and three ghoul like figures. Three, as in trinity, being symbolic of the union of three persons in one Godhead.

E.W.Powell, 12/7/91. Paining completed 1991.

Complexity comment:
The beliefs we hold must prove effective, otherwise why hold them ? The decline of religion points to the ineffectiveness of religious systems in tackling the real problems affecting society. In evolutionary terms the current attitudes and actions of religious leaders belay their claims to be driven by a good God, and show that they have mutated in deleterious directions. Utopian belief, on which the afterlife seems based, forces static thinking and prevents these theological systems reacting to new challenges and opportunities in the world around them. Allowing millions of souls to perish in religious wars is hardly an act based on their proclaimed spiritual values.
The rules of behaviour are studied in the field known as Cellular Automata. Here we program a matrix of individuals, each with a specific behaviour rule. Generally these are all the same, corresponding to a unified society, and we monitor the global behaviours that result. Many different rules are possible and each gives a corresponding form of behaviour. Many degenerate into fixed behaviours, either static or repetitive, unable to adjust to new conditions, these can only to return to the behaviour of the past. Some instead generate chaotic behaviours, an anarchic state where chaos reigns. The most interesting allow a diverse range of behaviours. Where individuals follow different rules the evolutionary possibilities increase, allowing the creation of new behaviours, emergent novelty.

In a fixed rule society, a novel mutation is often supressed. 'Different' people are persecuted, yet often this is just what is required for progress. In any system the distribution of possibilities falls each side of the average. For any dangerous deviation from the norm there will equally occur an advantageous one. If we fail to recognize the difference, then we consign our society to stagnation and decay...